Deaf-mute woman killed in 'assault' by kin at Behala

Kolkata: A deaf and dumb woman was allegedly assaulted by her elder sister and brother-in law, leading to her death at Brojen Mukherjee Road in Behala late on Tuesday night.

The neigbours of the victim placed a mass petition to the police to investigate the exact cause of her death and alleged that the duo had denied her food for over a week, which led to the incident.

The victim, 46-year-old Kakoli Das was schizophrenic and severely physically challenged from birth. It may be mentioned that the Das family were living in the residence for the past three decades. Kakoli's father Gopen Das passed away several years ago and for the past half-a-decade, his elder daughter Keya Mullick and her husband moved in to take care of her mother Bina Das (68) and sister Kakoli. The family had been developing problems over property issues and it was in September last year that Keya lost her daughter to dengue.

"Bina had often alleged that she and Kakoli were being held responsible for the death and they were often subjected to physical torture," said Avishek Mukherjee, a neighbour.

Police sources informed that a local shopkeeper saw Keya and her husband removing the body of Kakoli on Tuesday night from their residence and raised an alarm.

The locals rushed out and started to beat up the husband-wife duo, alleging that they were responsible for her murder and were trying to carry away her body in the dark.

The victim's mother claimed that she was physically attacked on Tuesday evening but denied that Kakoli was deliberately not provided food. "We spoke to Dr Asim Mondal, an MD in psychiatry, who has been treating Kakoli for the past 15 years and he confirmed he had examined the deceased after getting a call at 4 pm. He claimed that it was a death due to cardio-respiratory failure," an investigating officer said.

Police have sent the body to Vidyasagar Hospital for post-mortem. "The 'injuries' on the deceased's body were old and not fresh to suggest that she was tortured in recent times," a doctor in the hospital said.

Deputy Commissioner (South West) Meeraj Khalid said, "We are trying to arrange the post-mortem report in the next 48 hours. We will take action depending on the post-mortem findings. As of now, there has been no formal complaint from either the woman's mother or any family member."